


Sleepovers with Steve

by PeaceHeather



Series: Marvel 'verse [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Home Cooking, The cure for insomnia is more cuddles, platonic cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-09 01:31:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4328610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeaceHeather/pseuds/PeaceHeather
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From a prompt on Avengerkink that suggested Steve has trouble sleeping alone, and really only gets good rest when he's cuddling with one of the Avengers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleepovers with Steve

**Author's Note:**

> This began as a comment on someone's prompt (hence the first sentence), and turned into a mini-fill of its own. I didn't manage to work in many of the bonuses, but the OP said they were happy, so there's that, at least. It's completely unpolished because I knew if I went back and tried to clean it up, I'd end up quintupling the length and I really wanted to prove to myself that I'm still capable of writing a short story and _keeping_ it short. (If you wonder why I doubt, go look at all my other Avengers/Loki fics here on AO3, and those don't even include the unfinished and unposted fics still on my computer. I've got a daemon AU with Loki and the other Avengers that stalled out at 72K words, for heaven's sake.) I hope you enjoy it.

Let's see if I can remember this. I know I started out commenting that it was cute that OP mentioned the thing with Fury.

Basically at some point people realize that Steve is dragging but he tries to pass it off as just, you know, it's too quiet, his ma's apartment had thin walls and he could always hear his neighbors, and then of course the army, no big thing. And Bruce is the one to suggest he use one of those sound generators to make it less quiet, so Steve tries that, but it only makes things worse because it only makes the absence of any real people feel even more acute.

Steve starts looking pretty terrible and is tired all the time, and SHIELD gets _concerned_. Is it PTSD? Is he sick? What is out there that could make Captain America get sick, is there some sort of bio-agent? Fury is on the verge of ordering him in for a full medical workup, and Steve insists that no, he's not sick, it's just insomnia, which is fine until the one mission where he's so tired he's tripping over his own two feet and nearly gets badly injured, at which point Fury is ordering him to take some downtime and just go the fuck to sleep.

And the team are all being _helpful_ and offering _pills_ and has he considered _meditation_ and just generally harassing him with how much they _care_ until finally, too tired to be anything but grumpy, he snaps and tells them that it won't do any good because there's no one around to sleep _with_. See, his ma's apartment was really really small, and he was sick a lot, and when you've got asthma and then you come down with pneumonia, it only makes sense for your mom or your best friend to sleep in your bed with you to make sure you keep breathing through the night and don't die. And after that was barracks, and the serum, and then pretty much nobody left him alone whether it was the scientists or the USO girls on the tour bus together. Even with the Howling Commandos half the time they all slept together in the truck or in a pile for warmth or whatever.

Once it's all out, Steve is mortified and waits for the teasing to start, but Natasha (the bratty sister he's never had) is the only one to say anything, and also she promises lasting bodily harm to anyone else who tries to mess with him. So there's that, at least.

The next time Steve arrives at his apartment, arms full of groceries, he finds Bruce, Clint, Natasha, and Tony all on his couch already and watching a game together, and baseball's not even in season so they're watching lacrosse or something. It's a little crowded, but nice. It doesn't take long for Steve to start yawning, and while the others don't say anything they still share a conspiratorial smile.

Tony doesn't stay, but this place's security is enough for Bruce to feel safe, and Strike Team Delta can sleep pretty much anywhere. Bruce talks about Calcutta, and Clint and Natasha start trading stories about all the places they've ended up sleeping on missions, even that one time when they spent the entire night in a broom closet together. Steve knows damn well what they're doing but, admittedly, it's still really thoughtful of them. Before long they break out the blankets and pillows, and Steve's a little embarrassed since he's always said he never needed a huge apartment, and now things are a little crowded, but while Steve is brushing his teeth Natasha announces that she'll sleep in Steve's bed. She promises him that his virtue is safe with her while he splutters and tries not to inhale toothpaste.

In the end, it's either Clint or Bruce that share his bed, but by this time the lights are out and Steve is so tired he's not even sure which of them it is. The instant their hand touches his head, he's out like a light.

Eighteen hours later, he wakes up alone in bed but starving, and the smell of home cooked spaghetti sauce is enough to pull him from his room out to the kitchen, where the three of them, still in their pajamas and bed head, are cooking up enough pasta to feed a platoon, which is just about right given both Steve's and Bruce's appetites. They all agree that this was the best any of them have slept in quite a while, and Bruce promises that the next time they get together he will make them all curry.

Curry actually happens three days later, because Thor had stopped in and, after catching up on the recent goings-on, insisted that he also be allowed to participate in this "festival of sleep" as he called it. And Steve knew damn well that Thor knew damn well what he was doing, but didn't bother to call him on it. Thor added to the collection of stories about places he'd slept by recounting a few of his hunting trips and other adventures, and if he occasionally stopped himself mid-story as he was about to say someone's name, well, that was a feeling everyone else could understand pretty well too.

They spent the night in the Tower this time, and somehow Steve woke up in Tony's bed, which freaked them both out a little bit because _no_ , but even Tony admitted that it was the best sleep he'd had in ages.

It was while they were eating Bruce's curry, which was frankly pretty good (Steve had never had any before and thought it was amazing), that Thor declared that at their next sleepover he would prepare roasted rabbit.

"It doesn't have to be a party every time, guys," said Steve.

"You're right," said Natasha, "we should set up a roster: who gets to sleep with Captain America?"

"You make it sound like you should be selling tickets," said Bruce.

"Oh, good idea!" said Tony, while Natasha grinned. "We can make it a fundraiser, the USO will love it, somebody call Pepper --"

Steve threw a piece of naan at both of them.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to leave extra kudos, you're welcome to stop by [my Tumblr blog](http://peaceheather.tumblr.com) and say hello.


End file.
